0.0 - Epilogue
This is the beginning of my record of the history of this world I have named Aegis. As far I as I know I'm the only one here. If I find somebody else and they have a better name... we'll vote on it. My name is Reed Hoffman. I am from Earth and through whatever misfortunate accident, I have been stranded on this world. Maybe I should clarify a few things... first how I got here. There were 2 others present when the portal thing opened on Earthside. John Shaymaker and Jason Hood. Shaymaker and I were trying to stop Hood from (as he had threatened) blowing up the... well, he claimed the Universe at the time, so it seemed pretty desperate that we stop him. John and I had little choice and so there we were. The device Hood was using was a transdimensional gateway, again a claim I could not immediately substantiate but could not dismiss based on travesty of noise and the friggin light show it was putting on at the time. Let me also add that I have myself travelled thru time so I am somewhat familiar with this sort of wild science stuff. One last note, Shaymaker and I were interested in the claim that Hood could control the gateway... the time and place of the exit. Shaymaker had been taken away from his wife and daughter in 1863. He's been trying to get back to them and since we've become friends, I've been helping. All I remember upon entering the room where Hood was tapping commands on the console and answering quite politely Shaymaker's questions about getting back to 1863, were the images of a world that did not resemble Earth being swirled around inside the circle... the ring... the gateway or whatever you want to call it. I overheard Jason say "K7 Goldie 2" and called it a prime retreat. When Shaymaker finally got Hood's attention and asked if he would send him back to his wife first, Hood just stopped moving at all, dropped his arms to his sides and looked directly at me. Me, his betrayer. "Reed probably thinks I owe him something after our last meeting." Jason slowly turned to his left and stepped to another console and began tapping. The image inside the gateway did seem to turn to the blue of Earth instead of the golden brown and green smear of that other world. Jason had even begun inputting chronological coordinates focused around the year 1863. Both Shaymaker and I looked at each other and smiled. After 3 years of bouncing around, failing, getting into more trouble than we could ever hope to fix, we had put our trust in someone that we had no reason to trust and it was going to get John home. To Maria and to Sophie. "Thank you Jason!" I shouted over the still clammering noise of the machine. I thrust out my hand expecting a quick shake and that understanding nod deal thing people do when you bury the hatchet with them. Instead he kept hold of my hand. Hood beckoned Shaymaker to wait a few moments until the readings on his console gave the right information and Hood waved him thru. Lt. John Gunnison Shaymaker of the 63rd Virginia Cavalry turned to me and saluted. I smiled like a big goofy-type smile, I was so happy for him to be going home. He stepped thru the portal and was gone. "And now you!" Jason Hood still held my hand and he turned and tapped a few buttons. The portal flickered back to the golden green world I'd seen before. I've never credited myself with the quickest understanding, but the second I tried to release myself from Hood's grasp and his polite smile melted away into a nothingness of emotion, I finally picked up on that I was in trouble. Our grudge was not over. He still blamed me. He pushed me towards the portal with that inhuman strength he'd picked up thru his experiments. He leaned in close to my ear. "It's a good world Reed. Already has some proto-humanoid type species evolving on a few of the larger continents. I'd stick to the warm zones and clear water and you'll be fine." All my sarcasm, devil-may-care-ishness, flippancy, grand standing, non-committal nature, ultra subtle superiority melted away much like Jason's smile. "Maybe I'll come visit you in a few years." Then he simply released me into the portal. With just a sudden bash of hurricane force winds striking both sides of my face and I was suddenly over a different planet. Far above it. The next thing that required urgent clarification was my desperate hoping like hell that my flying ability better work here.